Why am not getting all my channels with digital cable?

Would getting the HD cable box help with regular channels?

• I am with Comcast, I just bought an HD tv, and I only have the basic digital cable box. I notice some of the basic channels can seem a little blocky or have very slight diagonal lines. If I upgraded to the HD Comcast Receiver, would the non-HD channels look any better?

• Answer:

  Edited (I misread your question the first time) Nope. In fact, it'll make them worse. Your HD channels will look great though. Cheaper HDTVs are made to work on one resolution only. If it's made for 1080i, you'll have great picture in 1080i and that resolution only. (just like if you buy a PC monitor that says 1280x1024@70Hz. Other resolutions will work too, but they'll look blurry) Pixelization or channel distortion means that there's something wrong with your signal. Call in a trouble call and have them fix it (repair the lines, replace the splitters, or amplify the signal),if it's something serious and don't waste your money. An HD cable box, will in fact make your regular channels worse because of picture compression (they'll look really blurry). This is not because of the cable box, it's because of the TV's inability to display it properly. For example if you put a $2000 Pioneer and a $500 Olevia side to side, you're going to see a dramatic difference in standard resolution and not that much in HD. Since you have an HDTV, get it. The picture difference is amazing when you're actually using HD (I for example watch Spike, Comedy central.... so getting HD is useless for me since they're not in HD, but if you like the channels that ARE actually available; movies, sports and science, it's great). Bottom line is, if you're actually going to watch the HD channels, get it, it's awesome. If you're not, save your $7 a month and learn to live with the blurry picture.